Carl Nielsen celebrated with Big Birthday Bash in New York

6.16.2015 21:36

150th birthday as well as the release of the “Nielsen Project” recordings by New York Philharmonic

Nightingale String Quartet

On June 15, the Consulate General of Denmark together with The New York Philharmonic, Dacapo records and Naxos America celebrated Carl Nielsen’s 150th birthday as well as the release of the “Nielsen Project” recordings by New York Philharmonic.

DJ Katrine Ring

The party took place at the music venue and night club SubCulture in SoHo and New Yorkers enjoyed special performances by The New York Philharmonic, Nightingale Quartet and DJ Katrine Ring while enjoying “Nielsen cocktails”, Danish meatballs, koldskål and much more.

Consul General, Ambassador Jarl Frijs-Madsen opened the party by thanking NY Phil Musical Director Alan Gilbert and DaCapo CEO Henrik Rørdam for their efforts in bringing Nielsen to the world stage and jokingly said that Nielsen would have loved to attend his New York

Alan Gilbert and David Osenberg

“I’m convinced that Nielsen – being the Northern European cosmopolitan that he was – would have absolutely adored New York had he had a chance to visit, and I can think of at least three things about Nielsen that would have made him the perfect New Yorker: First, his love of creative impulse and industrious people; second, his affinity to the American Dream, journeying from being a poor farm laborer’s son to national icon; and third, his insatiable curiosity and appetite for adventure.”

General Consul Ambassador Jarl Frijs-Madsen

The evening was recorded by classical music station WWFM for later broadcast and the award-winning WWFM host David Osenberg was the presenter of the night, which included a special conversation with Maestro Alan GilbertGilbert, who has famously said that “Nielsen’s time has come,” said of Nielsen’s music: “There’s this ineffable, indescribable feeling in which you know that this is Danish. But great music transcends national boundaries, and what makes the great composers their own is that you can't pin them down by nationality.”